and so, after seventeen days, the 2026 Olympics are over, sigh…
it was a delight to watch so many different sports, including some new ones, and learn about the individual athletes… I can no longer pick a particular favourite sport because so many are riveting… could not be more proud of all of our athletes who represented us so well…
there will likely be some withdrawal pains over the next few days…
now to get back to reading, and actually leaving the house, lol…
thinking about what a great week it has been and how fortunate I am to be able to adjust my sleep schedule to watch different Olympic sports when they are happening…
CBC Gem has proved a real treat… there are many sports covered so it is easy to find and watch the ones I am most interested in… although, sometimes there are too many live options, lol…
in previous years you were at the whim of a few tv stations as to what was shown, and when…
yesterday morning, I spent a little while wandering around the house and adding in Valentine decorations…
in the living room (adding to the table which I did a few days ago), on the stairs…
in the bathroom, and the den…
on Valentine’s Day, I will make something special for my dinner, not sure what yet… my beloved and I would maybe have had steak and lobster or some special treat…
he was very romantic and always got me a rose and some little present to celebrate the day…
I’m always happy to do a bit of decorating around the house, and then spend time thinking about him on Valentine’s Day… I have been so blessed;-)…
we spent a lovely morning at The Leaf noticing the growth since she was last here and counting cacao pods…
she also spotted the first chileo on the second tree… made me laugh cause I’ve been looking for ages trying to spot one on that tree…
we visited the butterflies although they weren’t very active as it was cool and overcast but it was fun to see them together… the Canadian Museum of Nature, in Ottawa, currently has a butterfly display as well so we often compare which butterflies we each see, lol…
we worked on a plan for our next trip together and did lots of research on the computer…
dinners in and out as we ate some of her favourites and then we were headed back to the airport for her flight home…
the work on the pond waterfall area started in early June… when the first two fixes didn’t work we moved on to more serious attempts…
the water in the upper pond was removed, and all the gunk was vacuumed out…
a group of three attempted to lift out the waterfall rock… unfortunately, it broke in the process… one of us might have had a meltdown;-(…
next the remaining blocks were removed and a new liner was installed… then the blocks were put back in… a bit of a puzzle to remember where each one went, lol… possibly they should have been numbered;-)…
the next step involved filling cracks with foam and gluing down some of the rocks…
with help from a friend the main piece of the waterfall rock was carefully lowered back into its spot…
it took three of us, but the three pieces of the waterfall rock were joined together with special rock cement and we waited a week for it to cure…
then the flat rock portion was glued down and left to cure…
next the hose was put down inside the liner and the waterfall spillway was placed back into the waterfall rock… there were a lot of crossed fingers at that point…
finally, on Sunday night, August 10th the waterfall was turned on…
it was too late for a good picture, so this one was taken the next morning…
there is no leaking 🤪…
a great job by my housemate and various friends throughout the process as issues arose and heat and rain caused stoppages…
what a treat to hear the water running and not have to worry about adding water all the time;-)…
herbiggirlpants 